Read the Bible

¹ Thus says Yahweh to me, Go, and buy a linen girdle, and put it on your loins, and don't put it in water.² So I bought a girdle according to the word of Yahweh, and put it on my loins.³ And the word of Yahweh came to me the second time, saying,⁴ Take the girdle that you have bought, which is on your loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.⁵ So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as Yahweh commanded me.⁶ And it came to pass after many days, that Yahweh said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the girdle from there, which I commanded you to hide there.⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and, look, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.⁸ Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,⁹ Thus says Yahweh, After this manner I will mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.¹⁰ This evil people, that refuse to hear my words, that walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is profitable for nothing.¹¹ For as the girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, so I have caused to cleave to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says Yahweh; that they may be to me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.

¹² Therefore you shall speak to them this word: This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, Every bottle shall be filled with wine: and they shall say to you, Don't we certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine?¹³ Then you shall say to them, Thus says Yahweh, Look, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit on David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness.¹⁴ And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says Yahweh: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them.¹⁵ Hear, and give ear; don't be proud; for Yahweh has spoken.¹⁶ Give glory to Yahweh your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and, while you look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it gross darkness.¹⁷ But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for [your] pride; and my eye shall weep intensely, and run down with tears, because Yahweh's flock is taken captive.¹⁸ Say to the king and to the queen-mother, Humble yourselves, sit down; for what is on your head has come down, even the crown of your glory.¹⁹ The cities of the South are shut up, and there is none to open them: Judah is carried away captive, all of it; it is wholly carried away captive.²⁰ Lift up your eyes, and look at those that come from the north: where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful flock?²¹ What will you say, when he shall set over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you? shall not sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?

²² And if you say in your heart, Why have these things come on me? for the greatness of your iniquity are your skirts uncovered, and your heels suffer violence.²³ Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may you also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.²⁴ Therefore I will scatter them, as the stubble that passes away, by the wind of the wilderness.²⁵ This is your lot, the portion measured to you from me, says Yahweh; because you have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.²⁶ Therefore I will also uncover your skirts on your face, and your shame shall appear.²⁷ I have seen your detestable things, even your adulteries, and your neighings, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! you will not be made clean; how much longer will it be?